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Applying Sunscreen to Tanks

When 7 Armoured Division went into battle, its tanks were camouflaged as trucks, with a contraption called ‘Sunshields’. According to testimony in the history of 2 Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, one of the Cruiser regiments in 22 Armoured Brigade, these camouflage devices were difficult for the driver to navigate with, and after crossing the border they were quickly ‘lost’.

I have until today never seen a picture of what this would have looked like, but Bertram on the Deutsches Afrika-Korps forum just posted a picture. If you click on this link, and scroll down to post no.4 from user SIS 5, and two follow-on posts from Alan McCoubrey you can see the device in all its glory.

Camouflage and faking tanks was a big pre-occupation of 8 Army, and they were quite successful in it. So successful in fact that the German command (but not the Italian) refused to believe for a few days that a major offensive against them was in full swing.

About the Project

The aim of this blog is to accompany the preparation of a complete history incorporating the Axis and Commonwealth perspectives of the Winterschlacht (Winter Battle) in North Africa, November 1941 to February 1942. The battle was known as "Operation Crusader" to the British, the 2nd (British) Offensive to the Italians, and as the 'Winterschlacht' (winter battle) to the Germans. The start date is universally agreed to be 17 November 1941, while the end date is 15 January for the British (thus excluding the Axis counter-offensive of late January), while it is 6 February for the Axis, including the counteroffensive.